Demand soars for Rio 2016 football tickets

Rio De Janeiro: More than 32,000 tickets were sold for the Rio 2016 men’s and women’s football tournaments within 24 hours of the competition draw, organisers said on Friday.

Rio 2016 ticketing chief Donovan Ferreti said the figure was about 32 times greater than the daily average before Thursday’s draw – which determined who would play against who, and where, Xinhua news agency reported.

“There was a significant increase in sales after the groups were defined and it seems demand is going to get higher,” Ferreti said.

The Olympic football tournaments will comprise 58 matches – 32 for the men and 26 for the women – in six cities: Rio de Janeiro, Belo Horizonte, Brasilia, Manaus, Salvador and Sao Paulo.